The day after his performance in George Balanchine's Symphony in C, for which he was praised for the elegance of his classical style, Duell jumped from the window of his apartment building on West 77th Street and died in an apparent suicide.
Both brothers began taking ballet classes (Joseph at age 7), studying under two well-known teachers in Dayton: Hermine and Josephine Schwarz.
Suki Schorer, a former teacher at the School of American Ballet who worked with him during this period, said of him, "What God gave him to dance with wasn't terrific, but he took it and became a beautiful dancer, performing with a great musical sense.
"[2] In 1980, Duell was promoted to soloist, and in 1982 as a choreographer he made his debut with the company, La Creation Du Monde, which was well received by the critics.
According to his close friends and colleagues, Duell was a man of deep thought who approached his art with an obsessive, mechanical, and often frustrated passion.
A New York Times interview with his mentor, George Balanchine, described him: "Unlike many young dancers, he was not satisfied to convey beauty and grace; he wanted to pick apart and understand these gauzy concepts.
"[2] The following morning, Sunday, February 16 at around 10 A.M. according to police, Joseph Duell jumped from the fifth-story window of his West 77th Street apartment in Manhattan and died at the scene.